The Enlightenment (1650-1800), also known as the "Age of Reason," continued the forward momentum of the Renaissance. It held the dual qualities of both valuing formal qualities and structure, and challenging authority (specifically of the Church). Remember that this is a world where God (or the gods) is no longer the center of the universe--man is. With the discovery of new scientific ideas, the European world took on a more "clock-work" feel; one of the prevalent ideas of the time was that everything was governed by rules that could be discovered. Isaac Newton and Renee Descartes, among others, saw a world that wasn't mysterious, but discernable; however, the Enlightenment thinkers didn't have the unbridled optimism of the Renaissance thinkers. They saw human ability as great, but also realized that the world often fell short of ideal standards.
Ideas such as rationalism and empiricism gave way to political ideologies as well. Because the universe was governed by unchanging laws, that meant man was as well; because we were born with a "tabula rasa" (blank slate) and must understand our world through experience as well as logic, that justifies man's basic equality. Thinkers like Hobbes, Rouseau, and Locke (who inspired America's "founding fathers") mostly agreed that good or bad, man's nature was affected (and mostly corrupted) by society and social institutions. Artists joined in on that thinking; art and literature began to not just reflect society, but offer social commentary on it, and then criticize it... and then challenge it. Just as the Renaissance thinkers challenged the Church and God, the Enlightenment thinkers began challenging the government and social institutions. These thinkers set the stage for the "revolutionary fever" that was about to boil over, that would change the Western world more than the Plague and H1N1 combined. Technological advancement and political upheaval in Western Europe and the Americas set the agenda for the next two centuries, setting the foundations for discourse in the 20th and 21st centuries...
QUESTION TO CONSIDER:Do you think society has a positive or negative effect on individuals? On communities? Why? You should, of course, first explain whether you think human nature is basically good, selfless, or basically bad, selfish. Are our biological urges pushing us to the preservation of self or others, and how does society impact that? Are we ruined or saved by society? Feel free to speculate; you can come up with an answer that's somewhere in the middle.
*Note: You may NOT use this question as a "Blog Response" for your oral presentation, but you may respond to it for 1pt in the extra credit category.
I think in general humans are born good. Our society has a huge impact on who we become and what we are. It is through the teachings of our parents, relatives, siblings, friends, teachers, and coaches that we decide what we want to do. The media has a huge impact as well. However unlike our parents and friends, the media is not always concerned about the long term affect of what they say, instead they are focused on selling their product. People who are growing and changing, especially kids, can see the images or words put out by media and be almost brain washed. They can see an add about drugs and begin to think it is okay which can lead to a disastrous path. We go from being focused on others such as loves ones, to thinking only of ourselves and how we look. It is through things like this that has lead our world to become so self centered and selfish. Our close knit societies of family and friends is an encouraging atmosphere to be in, but what the hard thing to avoid is all the media and negativity. By having strong positive influences we see people who make a difference and change the world, but even then society can some how spin it and make them look like the bad guy. I believe that it is the media we need to watch out, because it is them and their work that can lead to evil doings.
ReplyDeleteI support the philosophy of Jean Jacques Rousseau; I believe that all humans are born good but are corrupted by society. Society has an overall negative effect on people and on communities because of its demeaning theories. There are many theories in the world that degrade humans, such as “if you don’t win, then you’re a failure”, when really what should be engrained in our minds is “trying your best is what makes you a winner”. Society ruins the possibility of the mindset that no one is a failure, and it has belittling ideals such as remaining youthful, thin, and fit. When we don’t live up to this expectation, we feel rejected by society and have low self-esteem. We lose the desire for self-preservation, and some even reach the point of suicide.
ReplyDeleteI believe society has one of the biggest effects on people. I think that people are born good; but society can influence us to be corrupted. We all have one point in mind when growing up-to be successful and prosperous. But, society can urge us to become selfish from the backgrounds we come from- meaing some people are born with money rather than born without money and later on earning it through hours of hard labor. However it can also give some good effects, one may catergorize money as the best thing in life' but I believe there are still people who think that money isn't everything, it can't buy your pride. I think that pride is more valuable than anything, and society maybe hard and stressful in life but the little things we earn can really influence us to look forward into something better.
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